What is it?
It is funny how this game has people polarized. Some hate it, some love it, but nobody who played it seems to be simply neutral.
Lord Monarch is best described as a strategy game, but it has few similarities with what you may be familiar with from RTS games. There are only two types of units, the leader and the general populace. The leader usually stays in his castle, though sometimes you may send him to attack another leader directly, always a risky enterprise, but some maps can only be won this way. If you conquer an enemy this way, you take over all his land and money automatically. The strength of the leader is proportional to your population, but it does not react immediately to changes.
The populace are builders and soldiers in one. Their main task is to build bases, where more units are bred. If they encounter enemy units, they will fight. If they encounter enemy bases, they will destroy them. They act on their own, you only need to interfere if you want them to build, repair or destroy a bridge or barricade, or settle somewhere farther; one map can only be won if you take possession of a secluded part early. There is no micromanagement at all. Earlier maps can sometimes be won without interfering at all, giving the feel of a cellular automaton. Later levels often feel like a puzzle game, because your victory depends on a single action at the right time, and you have to find out what it is.
Graphics are in the style of old console RPGs, 16 colors, tiles are 32×32 in the largest, 8×8 in the smallest, and 16×16 in the default size, for you can zoom the map. There are five different graphic themes that come with their own music (the music of the mech theme is eerily reminiscent of the Chrono Trigger music for 2300 AD) and their own menu texts, which can be quite confusing, but it is all explained in the online manual.
Enough of the descriptions; download the game already and find out which faction you belong to, those who love it or those who hate it.
Originally Lord Monarch (it is only called online now because you can download it for free) was released for the NEC PC-9801 in 1991. I really like the interface graphics of this version.
1992 it was ported to the Super Famicom. It was one of the few games to support the SNES mouse. The graphics were very similar to the PC-98 version, but 16×16 was the largest zoom. Gameplay-wise it seems to have been very similar to the original, but for a two-player mode and the option of alliances. There is a translation project for this game. As of 2007-11-28, progress is only 5%.
The 1994 Sega Mega Drive version however has several differences. It introduced an elaborate storyline (played out in isometric view) and several new features, but got rid of all the themes except Europe medieval:
The player can play in either campaign (which consists of helping a king eradicate a rebel force) or battle mode (where the player has to take on three rival kingdoms simultaneously while expanding his nation).
Alliances can be formed but only at the beginning of each game. This simplistic diplomacy system can never be used in a match after 5 minutes in the game, making it useful only for delaying war with a neighboring kingdom. However, the alliance is only effective until the enemy alliance is defeated. Then the former allies declare war on each other. Victory through a cunning alliance is impossible because game rules dictate that there can only be one winner at the end of the game. That is why the two former allies need to go to war in order to claim the victory.
Human units as well as orcs and demons are used for peasants, soldiers, and knights. Also, a leader can be either a warrior, a magician, or a shaman. Throughout the game, peasants have to do engineering tasks as well as military tasks. For example, bridges, monster-filled caves, and fences can be created or destroyed for the purposes of strategy. With each successful victory, peasants become soldiers and eventually knights. The player even has a leader avatar that must liberate hanged men from the gallows to be his assistant, collect treasure chests from the countryside in order to gain a mass influx of gold, and to force nearby cities to pay taxes.—Wikipedia
As far as I have figured them out, here are my strategies for the 15 stages. Note that stage 1–5 have tutorial character, they introduce the five different tilesets and can usually be won by simply doing nothing. The only way to lose them is to send your leader to directly attack a still too strong adversary. My hints here just speed things up.
Wait ordersfirst, then
Free unit).
